This autumn, the Tony winning musical Ragtime will open at the Charing Cross Theatre, starring Earl Carpenter and Anita Louise Combe, in a major new actor-musician led production.
Earl Carpenter, who starred in the West End and on Broadway as The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera and Inspector Javert in Les Miserables, and West End star Anita Louise Combe, Tessie Tura in Gypsy at the Savoy Theatre and both Roxie Hart and Velma Kelly in Chicago, head the cast.
Simon Anthony; Bernadette Bangura; Anthony Cable; Earl Carpenter; Anita Louise Combe; Cavin Cornwall; Valerie Cutko Matt Devereaux; Tom Giles; Joanna Hickman; Lemuel Knights Rachel Knowles); Ako Mitchell; Seyi Omooba; Kate Robson-Stuart; Jennifer Saayeng; Jonathan Stewart and Gary Tushaw complete the company.
It is the turn of the 20th Century in New York. An era is exploding. A century is spinning. And the people are moving in rhythm and rhyme to the music of Ragtime. Based on the novel by E.L Doctorow, Ragtime weaves together the story of three groups in America, represented by Coalhouse Walker Jr, a Harlem musician; Mother and her white, middle class family in New Rochelle; and Tateh, a Jewish immigrant who has come to America with his daughter seeking a new life. Their fictional lives become dramatically intertwined with one another as well as with historical figures including Harry Houdini, Booker T. Washington, JP Morgan and Henry Ford.
Ragtime led the 1998 Tony Awards with 12 nominations, winning 4 including Best Book by Terrence McNally and Best Original Score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.
This new production follows critically acclaimed Titanic as the second in-house production at Charing Cross Theatre, directed by Artistic Director Thom Southerland.
Ragtime will run for a 9-week season at The Charing Cross Theatre from Saturday 8 October – Saturday 10 December.